


Teenage Elf

by MegtheDemon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Everybody Lives, F/M, High School AU, Human AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegtheDemon/pseuds/MegtheDemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU where Castiel works as one of Santa's Elves in the local mall, and quickly befriends the popular boy Dean Winchester who works in the coffee shop opposite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Being an Elf Sucks

“I am going to kill you, Gabriel.” 

The reason Castiel Novak was currently cursing his older brother under his breath was because it was because of said brother that he was stood in the Lawrence, Kansas Mall dressed like an elf in the middle of December.

He was dressed head to toe in green and red, from the shocking jade green shoes with bells on the end to the stupid pointy red hat that kept falling into his eyes. 

He flicked the point of the hat away from his face for the tenth time that hour, and caught a glimpse of his damn older brother. Gabriel was watching Cas with a menacing smirk on his face, holding his phone up, taking as many pictures as he could. Cas glared at his irritating brother, making a slicing action with his finger across his throat, before turning back to the excited toddlers with a bright smile.   
“Okay! Which one of you is next to see Santa?!”   
The piercing shrieking that suddenly shot up in volume, taking over the irritating Christmas music with ease made Castiel’s eye twitch.   
“If I have to hear that sound one more time, I am going to take Gabe and shove him down the chimney.” He thought to himself, trying to stop his anger bursting out and scarring a bunch of idiotic children. “Surely I don’t need money this much?! Perhaps Michael would let it slide if I beg…?” He stifled a bitter laugh as he thought of his strict brother letting anything slide. Michael wouldn't let him off his debt if he was dying in hospital.   
~~~ *Flashback to last week*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
“CASTIEL NOVAK GET YOUR UNGRATEFUL ASS DOWN HERE. NOW!” The booming yell of Michael echoed throughout the nearly empty house, rattling Cas from his studying. He shot down the stairs like a bullet, skidding on the wooden floor meticulously polished by the maid into the kitchen. He stood ramrod straight, sweat starting to bead on his brow as he thought of what he could have possibly have done wrong. Because, even though Castiel was the rebel of the Novak family, he was still terrified of his older brother. 

Stood behind the marble breakfast bar, clutching onto a letter, crumpling it in his hand, was Michael Novak. His trademark scowl was accessorized with eyes that could turn the younger to ice easily. He took a deep breath and said in a stern, calm voice,  
“Care to explain the meaning of this?” 

He lifted the letter in his hand and held it to Castiel’s face. 

Cas’ face went white as a ghost. Presented in front of him was a police report letter, stating that two days ago, Gabriel and Castiel Novak were caught driving a vehicle while highly intoxicated, and stayed in the Lawrence police station for one hour before being bailed out by—

“Michael Novak.” Castiel gulped loudly, keeping his eyes locked on his pacing elder. “Not only do I not remember raising such rude, rebellious, and irresponsible brothers, but I have no recollection of paying $1,200 bail money and Gabriel I know you’re out there, get in here!” 

Peering round the open archway to the kitchen, Gabriel’s dirty blonde head poked its way round the corner, an innocent grin on his lips, but slight fear in his eyes.   
“Sup bro?” A rustle of paper as Michael thrust the letter into Gabriel’s hands. A moment of silence passed before Gabriel looked back up, and stage whispered to the youngest of the three, 

“I think he may know about the police Cassie.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~*Back To Present Day*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
So here they were. Michael wouldn't allow them to use money out of their college funds, and the only other money they had been from odd jobs or pocket money. Gabriel already had a job at a candy store in the centre of the mall, and managed to get Castiel a job as Santa’s Elf over the Christmas Holidays, and then as a waiter in the food court once school started back up. 

“At least I won’t have to wear this ridiculous outfit when I'm in school.” Castiel caught himself mumbling under his breath again. He’s been talking to himself a lot during this job. Perhaps it’s the face-paint fumes getting to him. 

The tingling bell went off to announce the start of lunch time. Castiel sighed in relief as he shuffled to behind the grotto. The hour went by in a blur, Castiel staying slumped on a chair letting the bright colours fade as he lightly napped the lunch time away. 

He jumped slightly when a hand clamped tightly down on his shoulder. He looked up to see the one friend he has in this hellish X-Mas nightmare. 

“Wakey Wakey, Clarence! Get your Christmas cheer back on!” Meg called, a smirk gracing her elfish features. You would think that one of the most rebellious girls in Kansas would not be a fan of Christmas and would definitely not dress as an elf in the middle of the mall handing candy canes to children. But she is. Castiel sighed and let him be dragged back to work.   
It was a slow few hours; the amount of children had died down from a waterfall to a slight stream. Castiel’s stomach was growling so loud Meg asked if he had eaten a puppy. He decided to take a quick break and get a snack from the coffee opposite the grotto. 

Stepping into the coffee shop in green tights and shoes with working bells on them may have knocked down Cas’ confidence just a tad. Waiting near the till to order, he was suddenly much more aware of the bright red circles painted on his cheeks. He tapped his finger nails against the wood and waited for the man with his back turned to him to take his order. A minute passed when he turned around to face the elf.   
“Oh Shit.” Castiel hissed under his breath. 

Stood opposite him, dirty blonde hair sticking up and the greenest eyes ever staring in surprised shock; was the most popular boy in school Dean Winchester. 

Most teenagers exaggerate when they call someone the most popular person in school, but in all honesty, Dean Winchester truly was the most popular boy in school. He was captain of the baseball team, went out with a different cheerleader a week and drove the most badass car in the world. 

And here Castiel was stood in front of him, red circle painted over his cheeks and a red felt hat falling into his eyes which were the size of plates. 

A moment of awkward silence passed. Well, awkward for Cas, amusing for Dean. Castiel cleared his throat and said in a monotone voice,   
“Can I have a coffee and a chicken sandwich to go please?” Dean chuckled slightly and went to make the coffee; he looked up from where he was mixing the liquid and said with thinly veiled amusement,  
“Sure you don’t want a cookie? There’s Christmas tree shaped!” The dark haired boy chuckled slightly, not sure how to act around the boy behind the counter because: 1) He was not a popular boy, and did not know how to talk to the jocks of this world. And 2) it’s hard to relax when the person you are talking to is the most gorgeous person in the world. 

A coffee and sandwich slid across the table, and Cas looked up to see Dean gazing at him with expectant eyes. He shook his head slightly and slid the money across to the green eyed boy. He smiled at him and said one shy,   
“Thank you, Dean.” And turned to leave the coffee shop. He stopped when the deep gravelly voice of Dean called out to him, 

“By the way, I like the costume!” He stifled a smile and a very girly giggle and left the store. He was opening the pack to his sandwich when he saw a small bag hidden in the container.   
He opened the bag to see one of the Christmas tree cookies placed in there, with a little note in chicken scratch handwriting saying,  
‘Merry Christmas Cas! ;)’   
After that it was very difficult not to hide a squeal. 

After Castiel left the coffee shop, Dean was caught off guard by a cough sounding from the table behind the till. Dean turned around to look at his fourteen year old brother who was raising his eyebrow behind a heavy English book.   
“Any reason why you’re staring at one of Santa’s Elves butts?” Sam said with a smirk. Dean threw a table cloth at him, but the younger Winchester caught it before it got anywhere near him. He started chuckling while singing in a sing song voice,   
“You’ve got a crush on Caaas~” Then a sugar packet hit him in the nose, that just made him laugh even more as he saw the blush that had creeped up his brothers cheeks. “Your cheeks are as red as that face paint on his cheeks!!” Dean managed to get even redder as he cleaned the mugs.   
“I do not have a crush on Cas! There was some mild flirting, but that’s it!”   
Sam, being the one that knows Dean was bisexual, just smirked as he looked back to his book. Comfortable silence stretched on as the atmosphere went back to normal.   
“You stare at his butt in school too.”   
“DAMNIT SAM!”


	2. An Unexpected Letter

      The sheer force of teenagers pushing their way through the halls was ridiculous. A wall of hormones forcing itself through the tightly cramped hallway. Castiel was hunched into his locker, trying to avoid being swept away by the current of bodies. He was grumbling into the metal, trying to find his damn science book. A cry pierced through the hustle and bustle of the school, making the dark haired boy jump and smack his head on the metal door.

      “CASSIEEEE~” A brown blur crashed into the boys torso, slamming him against the lockers. He chuckled lightly as he spun the younger girl in a tight hug.

 Hael looked up at Castiel with a bright toothy smile. The small girl who has been Castiel’s best friend since they were six years old straightened the tan trench coat draped over Castiel’s tall frame.

“I still think you could get a more modern coat. Something a bit more stylish, you know?” She said, grabbing one of the heavy mythology books slipping out of the boys arms.

“Well excuse me for not looking like those orange boys on that T.V show you’re so fond of.” Castiel grumbled, tugging his deep blue tie around his neck.

“It’s called Jersey Shore, Colombo. Anyway, let’s get to class; we’ve got a substitute today!” Hale grabbed his hand and dragged him through the subsided crowd of students. Castiel chuckled at Hael’s enthusiasm as they lightly jogged. Turning his head slightly he met his eyes with the same stunning green as the ones he stared into in the coffee shop.

      Dean smiled at him from across the hall and gave a small wink before quickly turning back to the head cheerleader, Lisa, who was snuggled up under his arm. A spike of jealousy stabbed through Castiel’s brain, and he gripped tighter onto Hael’s hand and tried to get the green eyes out of his mind.

      On the other side of the hall, the same spike of jealousy was stabbing through Dean’s brain tearing all other thoughts out as he saw Castiel hold hands and smile and laugh with the short brunette.

“This is ridiculous. Get it together dude, you know you like Lisa, a little crush on this guy is nothing to get hung up on.” Dean mentally smacked himself. He looked down at the pretty black haired girl under his arm and smiled to himself. She really was beautiful, deep brown eyes and a gorgeous smile, not to mention one of the most kind-hearted personalities ever. None of that bitchy crap. She was the prefect girl.

      He leaned down and placed a small kiss on her nose, which always made her giggle. He went back to talking absently with his friends, back to his normal life, but he still couldn’t shake those piercing blue eyes from the back of his mind.

      Mythology was always Castiel’s favourite class, learning about the gods and goddesses of the past. Learning all the different times Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants. It was his favourite class… when the teacher was actually in.

      A pencil flew through the air, landing inches from Castiel’s face, where it was resting on his desk. He turned round to see Pamela waving at him from the back of the class, Hael sat on the seat opposite. Cas sighed and stalked down the aisle dodging the flying paper balls and blocking out the loud chatter from the other students.

He slumped down on Pamela’s seat and rested his head against the brunettes’ knees. From where she was sat on the desk top, Pamela caught a paper ball that was flying at her dark glasses.

“I still don’t know how you catch those without looking.” Castiel said, squinting his eyes at the girl.

“Let’s just say I’m psychic shall we?” Pam laughed, catching another that was just passing her head. Cas sighed as he picked one up from the desk,

“You’d think they’d put a bit more effort into it, maybe an aeroplane or something. But no; a crumpled ball is perfect.” The dark haired boy grumbled, absently folding the paper into a tiny square. Pamela laughed and started throwing the badly made paper balls back at the other students.

      The lesson went by quickly, the most interesting thing happening being the teacher getting hit in the face with a shoe that had flung off Lucie’s foot. Cas spent the lesson pointlessly chatting with Pamela about random things, and braiding Hael’s hair very badly.

      As soon as the bell rang all three of them sprang out of their seats and rushed to the cafeteria. They fell into their usual formation of Hale and Pamela getting the food, and Cas frantically searching for a group of seats in the rapidly filling lunch hall. The junior stretched his neck over the heads of students, praying to God that they wouldn’t have to sit outside again. He was starting to give up hope and search for a relatively snow free area outside when he saw a hand waving quickly towards him, attached to that hand was the familiar plaid and mullet of Ash.

      Castiel slalomed through the sea of children and fell onto the hard plastic chair with a thump. A chuckle came from the boy beside him as he smacked Cas hard on the back.

“Dude, that was some impressive dodging there! You should be in the Olympics!” Ash cried; saluting the dark haired boy with a soda can. Cas sighed and started to shovel down the fries that Hael had just slid in front of him.

      He was completely ignoring all the conversations around him, preferring to focus on the salty taste of the cafeteria fries. He was just about to steal some of the soda from Ash’s can when a loud scoff came from behind him.

“Sup, Elf? Why aren’t you in Santa’s Workshop?” Cas turned around to find himself seeing red.

      Luring in front of him, a smug smirk plastered on his face, was none other than the douche-bag of the year.

“Azazel. How may I help you? Need someone to help you kiss my brothers ass?” Cas drawled in a monotone voice. Azazel growled at the younger boy, tightening his grip around Lilith’s waist. The blonde smiled menacingly, showing her pearl white teeth before handing a piece of paper to Cas.

      The junior narrowed his eyes at the sealed envelope, his name was written on it in elaborate handwriting.

Cas looked up at the group of thugs that worshipped his older brother, Azazel was in the centre, amber eyes that shone almost yellow glaring into his skull. Lilith clung to Azazel’s side, wearing a sparkling clean white dress, the façade of innocence radiating off her. There were around five other goonies surrounding them, all with gormless looks on their faces.

    Cas looked back down at the envelope and peeled it open. Inside was a letter written in the same graceful handwriting as the envelope.

    _My dear brother,_

_I apologize for the way I am sending you this letter, I am aware of how un-fond you are of my employees._

Cas looked up at the crowd quickly, seeing that the gang was still stood directly in front of him. “Yeah, high school kids. Fantastic employees.” Cas muttered to himself, which earned a kick in the shin from Azazel. He turned to see Ash, Pamela and Hael sat stock still, anger and protectiveness radiating off them. He went back to reading;

_I have sent you this because I am in great need of your help. It is to my understanding that you have acquired a job in Santa’s Grotto in the local mall, due to some issues with Michael. Well, I happen to know a way that you could pay off that debt much, much faster. You just need to do me a small favour._

“Of freaking course. There’s always a catch.” Castiel thought to himself.

_I would appreciate it if we could discuss it face to face, please meet Lilith at the back of school promptly at 3:20 today. There will be a car waiting for you to bring you to me. I sincerely hope you will comply._

_Sincerely,_

_Lucifer_

      Cas frowned at the paper, confused and worried about what his older brother could possibly need. Lilith leaned down and muttered to the boy,

“Don’t be late.” Before they all stalked off, parting the students like Moses and the red sea.

      The rest of lunchtime was composed of his friends begging him not to go, and Cas repeatedly telling them that he had very little choice. As polite as Lucifer may have been on paper, he would be extremely angry if Cas didn’t show up. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and Castiel made his way to homeroom, which he spent staring into space and wondering what horrific thing his brother would want from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay second chapter! I just got off school for xmas holidays so hopefully I can write faster over break! xx - Meg


	3. Trip to Big Brother

The back of school was far more disgusting than the front. Mould clung to the bricks, turning the deep red to a sickly green. Castiel was hopping on foot to foot, breathing heavily into his hands, trying to warm them in the winter air.

            It had been two hours since the visit from Lucifer’s goons and Castiel was waiting nervously for the car that would take him to his terrifying older brother.

            He stood there in silence, his nerves being taken over by irritation at the late car. He was thinking of leaving when a black, obviously expensive, car parked in front of him. The door swung open to reveal Lilith looking up at him, her irises looking almost completely white in the winter sun. Cas started to walk around the car to the other side, when he heard a familiar call.

            “Cas! Hey Cas, over here!” Dean was waving frantically at the darker haired boy, sprinting over to him at impressive speed.

            When he finally got to him, Dean whispered into Cas’ ear,

“Be careful dude, I saw the gang-up at lunch. Need any help?” Cas inwardly blushed at the fondness shown by the Winchester, but merely shook his head and replied casually.

“Don’t worry; it’s just my arrogant older brother wanting to talk to me. I will be fine, but thanks for the concern.”

            Dean nodded slightly, still not entirely sure of Cas’ safety. He walked past the open door and scowled at Lilith, who cast a vicious smile on him.

“Hello Winchester. Long-time no see!” She purred.

“Go eat a baby, bitch.” He replied, causing Cas to snicker from where he was, now in the car.

It seemed like a lame insult, but there was a long and complicated story including Lilith and a baby doll filled with fake blood, courtesy of Gabriel, that made any mention of babies send Lilith into a fit of anger.

            Lilith smacked Castiel over the head and instructed the driver to start the car. The rest of the journey was filled with silence as Lilith texted and Cas thought of his brother’s mysterious request, and maybe a little bit of Dean.   

            Meanwhile, Dean was sprinting into his Impala, and skidding out of the car park, just managing to get behind the sleek black car that held Castiel.

            For about an hour, Dean went down long, twisting roads until the car in front of him came to a stop in front of an isolated house.

            Well, not house, more like mansion.

“Whoa.” Was all Dean could push out of his mouth as he peered up at the grand red brick with golden balconies framing the arch windows.

            A car door slammed closed, jolting Dean out of his trance. He quickly reversed his car into a shaded corner, the black paint job blending in with the shadows. He peered out of his windshield, watching as Cas and Lilith walked towards the large, deep red front door with a monkey head knocker. It opened slowly, and Lilith pushed Cas in quickly.

            Dean frowned slightly, not trusting the situation at all. He quietly slipped out of the car, and started to make his way towards the house.

            That’s when his phone rang.

Back in Black by ACDC blasted from his pocket, sending Dean jumping in the air and flattening himself against the dark wall. He quickly turned it off, making a note to call back the unknown caller later. It was probably Sam, he won’t mind. 

            Dean peeled himself from the brick again, turning back to his car with a smug grin, proud he didn’t get caught. Turning round, he walked forward around one step, before colliding with what must have been a brick wall.

            It wasn’t a brick wall. It was a really tall, _very_ solid guard. Who now had his hands digging into Dean’s shoulders and was directing him to the large mansion.

 _‘…Crap.’_ Was the only thought that went through Dean’s head. 

            Castiel gingerly paced down the elegant hallway, taking in each of the delicate paintings that hung up on the walls as he went. They were mostly intricate drawings of biblical scenes, historical events and some very gruesome tortures.

 _‘Trust Lucifer to have something like that.’_ Castiel thought as his eyes ghosted over a particularly detailed torture.

One particular painting caught Castiel’s eye, both intriguing and disturbing him. It was an extremely detailed oil painting that was mildly terrifying. The top half was filled with an almost blinding mix of white and yellow, but as his eyes scanned down it, he saw how it faded from brilliant light to dark black fires.

There was a silhouette of a man burning in the flames, with a twisted look of pain on his face, reaching up towards the light. From the light, a hand came down to meet his. That hand was attached to a vague outline of a man-like figure. It was man-like because, attached to it, there were two huge, stretched out black wings. Although Castiel only had a few seconds to glance at it, it seemed to him like the figure with wings was attempting to pull the burning man up from the flames.

The initial ridiculousness of the painting was almost immediately replaced with a horrifying realization that it was supposed to be an angel raising an innocent soul from Perdition.

            Cas shuddered slightly and walked past the painting. Lilith held her arm out, stopping him in his tracks. She stepped forward and pushed hard on a heavy wooden door, making it creak open slowly. Cas walked in slowly, taking in his surroundings as he entered an almost completely dark room, aside from the neon light hanging down from the ceiling. A voice echoed around the room, deep and smooth,

“Hello, Castiel. Long- time no see.”  Lucifer smirked at Cas from where he was stood. Castiel looked down at what seemed to be a pile of cloth in the dim light.

            Until it groaned.

Lucifer instructed to turn on more lights, and in the sudden brightness Castiel saw the curled up figure of a young female, with a bloody jaw and a black eye. He stepped forward to help the girl, but was held back by some of Lucifer’s bodyguards.

            The girl was dragged away by two burly men dressed in black, while Lucifer watched with the same triumphant smirk on his face.

            The older Novak turned back to Castiel, and smiled slightly. He nodded at the bodyguards and they dropped Cas immediately. Lucifer stepped towards his younger brother and held out his hand.

“So glad you could make it. I have something very special for you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to Lucie (Myarna), for re-writing the painting scene, I owe you big time! xxx Anyway, here is the third chapter, sorry it took me so long, I hope to get the forth one up soon! xxx - Meg


	4. Lucifer's Mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry for how late this is! I have been swamped with school work and had barely any time to write! Thank you for waiting! xxx <3 - Meg

Castiel glared a Lucifer, keeping his hands to his sides. The older Novak sighed and lowered his hand, shaking his head slightly.

“You always were the unsociable one, Castiel. It’s not going to help you get very far in life.” He sighed.

“Who was she? Why did you hurt her?” Castiel asked, trying to push down his anger. Getting angry won’t help him; it’ll just make it easier for Lucifer to manipulate him.

“She was nothing important. She was avoiding paying her debt, she needed to be punished.” The blonde stated, acting like he was discussing the weather, not beating someone to a bloody pulp.

            With the new light, Castiel could see all round the corners of the room. It was grubby and dirty, with nothing in there but a chair, a metallic box with what looks like different scalpels on it, and the only people in the huge room were Lucifer, Castiel, and around 6 different bodyguards. Lilith was nowhere to be seen.

“What do you want Lucifer? I thought you wanted nothing to do with us anymore.” Castiel growled, remembering the argument between Michael and Lucifer that ended with a trashed living room, many broken bones, and Lucifer being kicked out of the house. 

            Lucifer looked at his younger with what looked like pity.

“I wanted nothing to do with Michael. Unfortunately, that meant I had to give up everyone else as well, considering they wouldn’t dare leave Michael’s side.” Lucifer spat out the final words, surprising Castiel with the bitter tone. 

            Recovering from his initial shock at his brother showing _actual emotion_ , Cas asked,

“Will you just tell me what you want before I leave this hellish place?!”

“Yes, I suppose I should get back to the point at hand.” Lucifer snapped his fingers and another wall of guard placed a file into his waiting hand. He handed it to Castiel, where he flipped it open. While Cas read through it, Lucifer spoke while pacing around the room.

“There is this boy in your school, a few years younger than you that, owes me a great deal of money for my…products.” Cas' gaze met a candid picture of a short boy with closed cropped black hair. He had an arrogant look on his face, and Castiel thought he recognized him.

     "I know this boy." Castiel stated blandly, not drawing his eyes away from the little smirk on the boy's face.

     "Well that makes your job easier."

Cas' eyes scanned across the page where he saw the name of the boy.

'Fergus Rodric MacLeod- a.k.a "Crowley"' was printed neatly on the page.

Castiel wondered for a moment where Lucifer got the money for all the unnecessary grandeur, but then decided he didn't want to know.

 “I need you to get close to him, befriend him, and then bring him to me.”  Lucifer explained. Castiel closed the folder and narrowed his eyes at Lucifer.

“Okay, I’m not even going into how you expect me to befriend this guy, but why me anyway? Can’t you just have one of your druggie worshipers do it for you?” He asked, earning a glare from ‘bodyguard number 2’. Lucifer waved his hand and said,

“Open it again and look at the next picture.”

            Opening the folder back up, a grainy picture of a young boy, only around fourteen, with a shaggy crop of hair, and a gentle smile on his face. Cas tried to hold in a gasp as he looked at the picture.

“Sam Winchester. He’s our gateway to Crowley.”

Cas thought he heard a slight scuffle from outside, but ignored it due to the shock buzzing through his brain.

            Meanwhile, just outside the cracked open door, Dean Winchester was being dragged through the hall, and the sound of his brother’s name sent a chill down his spine and one word slid through his lips.

“Sammy.”  

            The basement of Lucifer’s mansion was not in the same sophisticated décor as the upstairs. The walls were old, mouldy brick and the smell of mothballs filled the room, all the way from the hard cement floor to the curiously damp roof. It was usually empty, a home to the flies and beetles. The only time Lilith came down here was to ‘interrogate’ someone before the real good stuff.

It was her favourite room.

            Sitting down on her favourite chair, a crystal clean cream armchair, she looked down at the struggling figure before her. Dean managed few good punches and kicks before he was forced into a creaking plastic chair and ropes were tightened around his wrists and ankles.

Now Dean was safely secure in his seat, Lilith crossed her long legs, letting her dress creep up her thigh, revealing a small knife secured to a garter. Dean tried to hide the panic and confusion running through his mind, trying to focus on the matter in hand, not on Sammy and Cas. His eyes caught the knife, still secured to Lilith’s thigh.

“Like what you see Sweetie?” She purred, pulling the knife free and gracefully standing on her white pumps. She stepped forward and held the knife to Dean’s cheek, almost stroking him with it. She leaned close to Dean’s face, until they were nose to nose, and asked in a sickly sweet manner, “Now what are you doing here honey?” The knife trailed lightly down his cheek, to his jawbone, before finally resting on his neck. Dean tried to stay as still as he possibly could, thinking of a way to get out of his binds. Which is when he felt the sharp edge of his car keys in his pocket.

_Bingo._


	5. Oops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well lookie here, Meg's updating whaaaaaattt?! I AM SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I WILL TRY AND KEEP UP TO DATE I'm so sorry and I love you all thank you for reading xxx <3

Dean kept his eyes fixed on Lilith’s, his usual confident gleam coming back to his eyes. He knew he needed to keep her entertained, distracted so he could get out of here with minimal injuries. Dean put on an innocent look, drawling at Lilith,

“I didn’t mean to trespass, surely. I was just a lil’ lost. Surely you can understand sweetheart, it’s a big town after all.”

Lilith flashed her pearly whites at him, before swiftly slicing her knife across his left cheek. Pain flashed through Dean’s cheek as his skin was sliced open. He could feel the blood drip down his jaw when Lilith leaned away slightly and spoke slowly to him,

 “Don’t even try it Dean. We both know you followed your _little fwend_ Cassie here, and you got too curious to keep your cute. lil’. Nose. Out. Of. it.” With each word she tapped her knife on Dean’s nose, not caring about the nicks of blood showing up on it.  Her pale eyes shone with adrenaline as she stepped away from Dean entirely, walking to one of the burly bodyguards and opening a small make-up bag.

While Lilith’s back was turned, Dean whipped the keys out of his pocket and started to saw through the bonds. The rope was thin but secure, and it was difficult for Dean to even keep a hold of the metal. He slowly but surely frayed the rope enough to free his hands. Then Lilith turned around.

In her hand was an object even shiner than the knife, it glinted in the little light of the room as she walked towards her prey.

Dean quickly held the rope in his hands, not daring to make a move until just the right moment.

“Timing is key, Dean. You get the timing right or you screw it all up, you hear me?” Dean’s father’s voice rattled around in his brain. He glanced from Lilith’s manic gleam in her eyes to the shiny object in her hand.

It was small and slight, like a scalpel but with jagged, rough edges. The whole thing was spotless apart from the sharpest point, which was dirty and rusty. This thing was designed to hurt you painfully and slowly, and then kill you with tetanus soon after. Dean’s mind started to quick think over time. Lilith was pulling the scalpel/knife/tetanus machine to his eyelid, slowly tracing around his eye socket. Not enough to pierce the skin, but enough to make Dean’s hairs stand up. Lilith looked into the boy’s eyes and purred,

“Now, you can tell me what you’ve seen before, or after. Either way this is gonna hurt.” She settled the scalpel on crease of his eyelid, keeping Dean’s eye wide open with her finger, and started applying pressure.

Upstairs, Castiel was being guided down a long corridor, Lucifer’s hand clasped firmly on his shoulder. The dark haired boy looked up at his brother and narrowed his eyes at him.

“I don’t know why you’re showing me this room, I haven’t even said yes to you yet.” Cas said, making Lucifer smirk smugly.

“ _Yet_ already gives you away, brother mine. And it’s hardly like you _actually_ have a choice! I might as well show you my facilities, I think you’ll find them interesting.” Lucifer stated. He tightened his hand on Castiel’s shoulder though, ensuring the younger couldn’t get away.

They made their way down a narrow concrete staircase, the condition of it worsening with each step. They finally made their way down to a rusted, metal door.

Lucifer stepped in front of Cas and knocked once, before opening the door. He peered in before turning back to Cas with a bright smile.

“Well Castiel, you’re in for a treat! We already have a guest here, and it seems he’s putting up quite the fight!”

Cas looked into the room to see utter chaos. Two bodyguards were knocked out cold, Lilith was sat in the corner of the room with a bleeding lip, and three mammoth sized guards were holding down a struggling man, who lifted his face to yell. Castiel’s eyes grew wide as he saw the familiar green eyes, one swollen and red.

“Dean!?”


	6. The Car Ride

     Castiel jumped towards Dean, snatching him out of the bodyguard’s grasp. Dean spun round, fist first into the face of one of his captors. Cas barely pulled Dean back before he went for the other guard, wrapping his arms around the injured Winchester, grasping his bicep with a grip tight enough to leave a mark.

“Jesus Christ, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Castiel snapped at Lillith and the beaten up guards, his grip tightened on Dean as he started leading him to the staircase. He was on the first step when he was stopped by a cold hand on his shoulder.

He craned his head to meet the cold eyes of his brother. Lucifer kept his hand on Castiel’s shoulder, forcing him to keep eye contact when he spoke.

“I hope this little conflict doesn’t influence your decision, Castiel.”

     This caused Castiel to narrow his eyes at his brother, and shrug his shoulder free of the freezing grip. He turned around and continued to take Dean up the stairs, only pausing to call to Lucifer over his shoulder.

“Lucifer, brother, if I ever see you again, you'll be in a casket.”

He then slammed open the door at the top of the stairs and led the limping and now slightly stumbling Dean out the house.

     By the time the two teens had reached the hidden Impala, Dean’s face had blossomed a whole garden of bruises and cuts, the worse one being the angry gash slicing across his eyebrow and around his eye socket. Cas inspected it briefly before they climbed into the car.

“Oh my God, Dean. I’m so so sorry you got hurt, how bad does it feel?” He was holding Dean’s face in his hands, inspecting the drying blood in the wound, looking for any dirt or infection. Dean shrugged and smiled slightly, acting surprisingly relaxed for someone who almost got their eye sliced open.

“Meh, I’ve had worse, plus they didn’t even get me that badly!”

“Dean, they were half an inch away from your eye! You could’ve been blinded!” Cas took his hands away from Dean’s face and shook his head, guilt filling him up from his toes to his ears. He looked up into Deans eyes, so ashamed in the pain he brought him, when he hadn’t done anything wrong to anyone.

“You shouldn’t have followed me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt otherwise.”

     Dean smiled a little more, touched at the caring nature shown. He grabbed his life-saving keys out of his pocket and opened the driver’s seat.

“Well, I had to make sure my favourite elf was alright!” The joke emitted a laugh and a small groan from Castiel, which Dean considered a triumph, considering the ridiculously dramatic situation. He nudged Castiel on the shoulder and threw him the car keys.

“Now, as much as I love these chick flick moments, I’d really like to get out of this hell hole before Lillith comes running out with a chainsaw or something equally as horrific. You drive; I can’t really see the road right now.”

     Castiel smirked slightly, although still feeling guilty, he couldn’t help bringing up the fact that Dean Winchester was allowing him to drive his precious car.

“You’re permitting me to drive? This is a true honour!” Castiel laughed with Dean as he slid into the car. The interior smelt strongly of leather and oil, and Castiel breathed in the fumes, relaxing in the comfortable environment. As he switched on the engine and started to drive away from Lucifer’s mansion, Dean turned to him from the passenger’s seat and announced,

“You mind if we don’t go to mine? Sam’ll freak out if he sees me like this, plus I don’t want you going anywhere before I get some answers about what went on back there.”

     The tone on Dean’s voice was kind, but had an edge of concern and suspicion, causing anxiety in Castiel to rise. He gulped quietly, before nodding at the road ahead.

“Seems reasonable, I know just the place to go.”

     The car ride to the mysterious location was lead in a mostly comfortable silence, the two teens quietly watching the road ahead as they listened to the wind whistling through the gaps in the car windows. Dean was following the street names zipping past, unable to figure out where he was being taken. He had been making guesses with each street, but was never correct. He was extremely surprised when Castiel pulled into the very familiar car lot of Uncle Bobby’s scrap yard.

Cas grinned as he took the keys out the ignition, his stupidly blue eyes sparkling in the afternoon sun. He turned his head to the injured teen as he shoved open the door and swung his long legs out of the car.

“Here we are! We’ll go inside in a bit, but I think you should get some fresh air first, get the smell of Lucifer’s hell hole out of your lungs.”

Dean followed Castiel out of the car, taking deep breaths of the comforting smell of car oil and gasoline, appreciating the fact the smell was actually overtaking the smell of dust and dried blood. Dean was looking around for Cas, and only until he had spun in a full circle did he notice the pale teen lounging on the hood of an old, falling apart car, the same make as Dean’s precious car, but the colour is a pale dusty blue, the same colour as the late afternoon sky.

     Dean clambered onto the car next to Castiel, his limbs aching from the ordeal he had just been through.

“Ugh, I swear your brother is the most melodramatic gang lord ever. He should be in a musical with a feather boa.” Dean leant back on his hands, shivering as a gust of winter breeze hit him, sending goose bumps up his uncovered arms and the chill stung the cuts littering his face and arms. Castiel noticed the shiver and started to shrug his long trench coat off of his shoulders and slide it across Dean’s.

Dean blushed as the warm material surrounded him and a smell filled his nose. A smell of warmth and fireplaces and of _Cas._ The redness of his cheeks brightened as Castiel tapped him on the thigh, snapping Dean out of his Castiel induced coma and turn to meet his slightly tired eyes.

“I really am so sorry about what you’ve been through tonight, if I could go back and change it I would. But—“

“ _But_ you can’t, so there isn’t anything to do about it, and you need to stop apologizing, just make sure my eye doesn’t pop out and we’re even.” Dean’s interruption caused a small smile to grace Castiel’s features, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It was obvious Cas still felt guilty, but he was dropping the subject, for Dean’s sake. He instead went to climb off the car and get the first aid kit, but Dean grabbed his wrist and gave him a look. How Castiel could tell what Dean wanted just from a look, he wasn’t sure. But he stayed where he was, hugging his knees as the temperature continued to drop with the sun.

     They stayed sat like that for a while, neither of them sure what to say, or think. Both of them wanted to talk about the events that had occurred, but neither of them were quite ready for such a serious conversation with the other. After all, they’d barely been friends before a few weeks ago, and even then it was only meaningless chit-chat and making faces at each other from across the classroom. They both decided to themselves that they would wait before having such a heavy conversation, find out more about the other person, not to mention try to get over the staring.

     Dean was the first to break the silence.

“So how do you know Uncle Bobby, Cas? Cause nobody’s allowed to come into Bobby’s yard without his express permission.”

“I’ve always come here when my car needs fixing, the majority of my family has. Bobby was an old friend of my fathers. Also, ‘Uncle Bobby’?” Cas snorted as Dean elbowed him in the side, both of them laughing slightly too loudly for the joke.

     “Uncle Bobby is basically like a second father. Sammy and I practically grew up here; it’s where I first fixed my baby.” Dean tapped the hood of the car fondly, reminiscing of the few happy moments of his childhood.

“So, if you know Bobby pretty well, do you know the story of him, Rufus and the beard trimmer?” Cas queried, very happy that the two boys had something to talk about that wasn’t their problematic family lives or school. Dean started laughing at the question, his eye stinging as he clenched them tight, folding himself in half as he clutched his stomach.

“Oh God that story!! I hear it every time I stay over! Do you know the one about the old Mushroom Mini and the flamethrower?”

“What the hell was Bobby doing with a flamethrower?!”

“I am so glad you asked.”

     They spent the rest of the evening lounging on the hood of the dusty blue Chevy, sharing stories of their childhood and laughing so hard they almost tumbled off of the hood at one point. They didn’t climb off of the car until the sun was hanging very low in the sky and the air was unbearably cold. Dean didn’t get home till almost midnight, after Castiel cleaning up his eye and making Bobby promise not to tell John or Sammy what happened.

Despite the amount of drama and pain Dean had gone through that day, he snuck through the front door with a smile on his face and his face flushed. He still wasn’t entirely sure of his feelings for the blue eyed boy, but he knew he enjoyed his company, and he was happy they were growing closer and Dean was hoping he would someday soon learn the story of Castiel’s older brother, and why Sammy was involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear God I am so sorry I'm not dead this hasn't been abandoned I'm just a procrastinating potato drowning in school work. Anyway, here's chapter six! I hope you remember what's been going on in this story after the past 5 months....Enjoy!! <3


	7. Morning at the Novak's

    Cas was debating whether it would be worth getting out of bed that morning.It was a freezing cold, dark Saturday morning and he was meant to be at the mall in his dreaded costume by one.

He rolled himself out of bed, groaning to himself as his bare chest was slammed into by the winter air, goosebumps travelling up his skin as he cursed God for creating winter. Quickly shoving on the first shirt he touched, he made his way down stairs, turning up the heating as he passed the thermostat. The blue eyed teenager passed Gabe as he walked to the coffee maker. The older Novak in question was currently unconscious, his forehead resting on the counter as he drooled onto his work underneath him.

“Of course he’d be finishing his work at 1 AM. Of course.” Cas thought to himself, slamming his coffee mug down, causing Gabriel to wake up with a yell.

“What, WHATISIT?!” Gabriel stumbled as the stool beneath him rocked backwards, sending him and his obnoxiously long golden brown hair flying backwards in a hurricane of paper and cold coffee.

    Cas peered his head over the edge of the table, looking down at his brother who was currently sprawled across the linoleum floor, coffee staining his crumpled shirt. Gabe picked himself up from the floor and sprawled most of his upper body across the marble counter, chin resting on a binder full of art work and his eyes glaring up at Cas.

“What do you want you annoying child.” Gabe didn’t stop glaring at Cas, even though his eyelids were drooping slightly with every blink.

“You were drooling on your mural design. I’d assume you’d thank me.” Cas replied, not bothering to sound kind. It was too early to be a good sibling.

    As soon as the word ‘mural’ came out of Cas’ mouth, Gabriel’s eyes shot open, all tiredness disappearing as he scrabbled around his work, snatching one A3 piece of paper off the table and holding it under his nose. He spent about a minute scrutinizing every detail on the drawing, only placing it back down oN the counter until he had looked at every line and shading.

“Oh thank God. I would have cried if it was smudged.”

Castiel spun the drawing round to face him on the other side of the counter and took a look at the work in progress.

    He didn’t get much of a chance to look at the progress Gabe had made before the drawing was quickly slid out of his view and into Gabe’s bursting art binder. The older Novak wiggled his finger in front of Castiel’s face as he gathered his array of sketchbooks and pencils with his one free arm.

“Uh-uh, little bro! Nobody is allowed to look at it again until it is completed and painted on the school wall. Artists orders.” Cas sighed at his brother as he handed him a cup of coffee that was neither cold or drying on Gabe’s rumpled shirt.

“Fine, I don’t know why you’re always so picky about who sees your art work. Surely it’s not going to affect the quality.”

“I know that! It’s just annoying when you show someone something you’re drawing and all they do is tell you ‘Oh you should add this to it!’, ‘Is that thing meant to be there?’ and the loveliest question ever, ‘Why don’t you draw me in it!?’. Trust me. Waiting till I’m finished saves a lotta hassle.”

    Cas didn’t bother replying, understanding the artist’s point of view. He just went back to the kitchen cupboards and started pouring some cereal into one of the blue bowls that matched the set stacked in the cupboard. It always annoyed Castiel how all the plates and bowls were stacked together by colour and pattern, rather than by size. It was one of the many things in his house that bugged the crap out of him. Most of them were little things, like the bowls, and the fact that everything was perfectly symmetrical. However the biggest thing that bugged the ever living crap out of him had just walked into the kitchen with a scowl on his face. As usual.

“Gabriel. Would it kill you to not scatter your so called ‘work’ all about the kitchen? It’s an awful sight to see.”

    This morning greeting was a constant in the Novak household. All the younger siblings were accustomed to beginning their morning with an insult from the big-headed older brother, so Gabe didn’t even flinch when he heard Michael. Instead the younger Novak just scooped his art binder in one arm and his cup of coffee in the other, and turned around to head upstairs. Only stopping to notify Cas that he’d be leaving for the mall at 11:30, so he’d “better get his ass moving”.

    Cas had started to walk out of the kitchen to start getting ready for work, when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“What is it with this family and dramatically grabbing someone’s shoulder?” Castiel thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he spun around to meet the face of his brother. Who, for once, instead of his usual glare of annoyance and disappointment, had a concerned look to his face. His eyebrows furrowing slightly as he stepped a bit closer to his younger and placed his other hand of Cas’ other shoulder. Once he was certain Cas could not escape, the older Novak began to speak.

“Castiel, I heard word that Lucifer had called for you yesterday. I just want to make sure that he did not get you involved in any of his schemes or ‘ideas’.”

Although Cas was slightly shell shocked by the older brothers act of _actual concern for his wellbeing_ , he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and just reply in the most nonchalant way possible.

“I promise you, Michael. I am not, nor will I ever be involved in Lucifer’s plan to take over the world.”

    The answer seemed to satisfy Michael, and he let his hands drop to his side, and his disappointed mask appeared once more. Michael turned around and started making his own coffee, only speaking once more to Castiel before turning his back entirely to him.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t. It would be a shame to have _another_ disappointment in this family. There’s already so many.”

“ _There he is_ ” Castiel thought to himself as he walked back up the stairs to his bedroom. He picked up his phone from the bedside table and checked his messages. The usual good morning text from Meg, reminding him not to be late, and one other one. Not used to messages this early, Castiel opened the message eagerly, his excitement increasing as he read.

   _Hope to see you this morning. If you drop by during lunchtime I’ll give you a xmas cookie ;) see you soon! – Dean_

    Cas blushed slightly as he saw the winky face, quickly typing a reply before jumping into the shower, hoping his blush would disappear by the time he saw the green eyed Winchester. He wasn’t sure where his relationship was with the other boy, but he was happy just to be in the company of someone he connected with so well.

He left for work with a smile on his face. Even though Gabe was blaring obnoxiously loud pop songs the entire ride up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear sweet Jesus I shouldn't even apologies this time I should just let you all run at me in an angry mob with pitchforks. Once again, as I sat every chapter, so so so sorry for this being so late! But, it's a relatively normal chapter this time, no fist fights and drug lords!! :D Once again, thank you all so much for your kindness and patience, you're all awesome! xxx


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